| SojournWell. With the exception of the final I should be completing as we speak, I'm done with year one of College. Home from KU, I really want to see all of those people who have made Topeka special for me, but unfortunately there are so many of you out there that I can't cram you all into the ten days until I leave for Alaska. Did I mention that? I'm moving to Alaska for the summer. I don't really know what to think about it, either, other than that it will be a grade A adventure. I got an internship as a coordinator for a watershed coalition up there, in essence using the networking, organizing, and coordinating skills I gained from TYAG, Verve, and StuGo, only this time for money and science. I leave May 26; if I don't get to see you, I'm sorry, know that my love for you continues nevertheless. Next year will be different. This past academic year, I worked my fucking ass off for school, and though my grades are great in terribly hard classes... I feel as though some of the extreme effort I put into school could have been better applied to pursuing, you know, general happiness. Prime example: I had the chance to go to Lake of the Ozarks three weekends ago, but that just happened to fall after a hellish week and a half. I had exams (or large projects, the art equivalent of a huge exam) due in every one of my classes, lab reports, presentations, consultations, novels to be read, and I did them all, but I got myself sick. Along with good grades this semester, my work effort has also rewarded me with the lovely Eptsein-Barr virus-- mononucleosis, folks. Step right up to this kissing machine and you can get your own, too! They make lovely pets, and they make your enlarged tonsils and swollen neck look just so adorable... I'm sure I'm cleared out by now, I get the official OK from my doc this afternoon, but man. I mean, when you are making yourself sick, you know you really need to slow down. Oh well, I can only take 16 hours next semester, so it'll be easier. More time to see the people I love, to sleep, to *gasp* maybe create some artwork? As much as I bitch, I love college. I love it. I love it. It's heaven. Its freedom, its a vacation (for the most part) from all the beaurocratic shit they dish up in high school and many jobs, and you are given your first slap in the face with academic responsibility: if you really want to graduate, if this IS your goal, you have to work for it. Period. That being said, I want to make something clear: even though every proud mama and papa wants their darling joy to go to college, its not the heaven it is for me for everyone. Seeing my brother go through high school has shown me that universities are NOT right for everyone. I really wish that trade schools and community colleges were seen as a viable option for post-secondary education, and their graduates not pegged with the immediate assumption that they Weren't Good Enough for College. Pisses me off, actually. You should be rewarded for recognizing what you want to learn, what you need to learn, your financial situation, and then making the appropriate move on your education. You shouldn't have to sit through the weighted comments of He's Not Going to College. I got lucky that my dream happens to coincide with the societal definition of success, but goddamnit, there are other ways to be happy, and that SHOULD BE someone's goal. To be proud of the decisions you've made. I've got a final to write. Excuse me. Call me if you want to hang out, egg someone's house, blow up Walmart, you know. |
